The use of networks in general and the Internet in particular continues to grow, and with each passing day more and more nodes are being added to networks. The growth of networks causes a commensurate need for additional network infrastructure, including the need for more and bigger routers.
The need for more capable network infrastructure may be acutely felt by “point of presence” providers. A point of presence (POP) is typically considered a physical location, either part of the facilities of a telecommunications provider such as an inter-exchange carrier, or a separate location from the telecommunications provider, that houses servers, routers, ATM switches and digital/analog call aggregators. Internet Service Providers (ISPs), CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) and ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) in turn rent or lease network infrastructure from the POP provider.
In addition to accommodating growth, POP providers require flexibility in configuring their network infrastructure. This flexibility is required, because ISPs and other network infrastructure consumers are constantly changing their network configuration in response to user demands.
As a result, there is a need in the art for the present invention.